Method and apparatus for refrigeration



Nov. 15, 1932. j 1 G" coPEMAN 1,887,580

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR lREFRIG'ERA'J.'ION

Filed April 1. 1931 4o I yuova @.c'oPfMAN I9 l A ATToRNEYs.

Pnmeduoeis, 193g UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE non e. com, o1' nement, n'ssrenon To corr-.m Lanonn'ronrm conm, or rmnmcmenx, a CORPORATION o1l Ironman m01) FOB BEFBIGEBATION Application Il ed A pi'il 1, 1931. Serial lo. 526,848.

This invention relates to the art of refrigerating'by a. substance which evaporates from the solid state to the gaseous state. Thev invention resides particularly in an a1'- rangement wherein a suitable liquid such as brine or the like is moved in a cyclic path for cooling or refrigeratin'g regions, positioned remotely fromvthe cold producing substance and in which movement of the brine in its circulation is eifected by the gas power produced by evaporation of the refrigerating substance.

More particularly, the invention is concerned with controlling the refri eration of some or all of the remote regions y regulating the movement of the brine in its path. In accordance with' this object, regulation may advantageously be accomplished by varying the supply of gas which is effective for moving the brine in its path. One way of doing this is exemplified herein as comprising avalve arrangement for controlling the supply of gas for movingthe brine in" which the valve is governed bythe tempera.

ture in said remote region or regions. For this purpose a thermostat control may be provided. i

In the accompanying drawing: Fig. 1 is a sectional view taken through a refrigerating device and exemplifying the invention. -Y n Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail insection showing one type of valve and thermostat ar? rangement which may be employed.

- The device shown herein incorporates the general principle of that shown in my copending application #496,845, filed Nov. 20, 1930. y y

This device as shown comprises an outer casing 1 with a removable cover 2 -eachinsulated as at 3. lVithin this outer shell there is a receptacle or container 5 with a ,removable cover 6 adapted to be tightly placed onto the receptacle for containing a block of ice, or in other words, a block of the solid refrigerating substance '7. 'The substance 6 may be solid `CO2 or other substance which changes directly into gaseous form. A re liefvalve 8 is 5 of the gases.

provided for exhaust of somev p Remote regions to be refrigerated are ex' mphied by compartments or containers 10 which may be incorporated directly in abody of plastically applied stone or the like 11. A suitable brine or liquid which` does not freeze under the required temperature is provided and preferably confined in a pipe and the c ontainer system. The word brine `is u sed in a broad sense indicating any suitable liquid or refrigerant for the purpose.

Brine may he contained in part in a container'or receptacle 12 which may surround the container 5, and connecting into the chamber 12 is a pipe 13 which may have a coil formation 14 within the chamber 5 and then which extends to the remote regions as at 15. The pipe 15 may be suitably coile or otherwise shaped to adequately refrigerate the remote regions. The pipe 15 may terminate in a cylinder or the like 16 which is con? nected by-a pipe-17 back into the receptacle 12. Some of the gases in the chamber 5 are utilized for moving the brine in this c clic path, and for this purpose there may a. tube 18 having its open end disposed in the receptacle 5 and leading into a valve housing 21; out of the valve housing leads another tube 19 which extends intothe cylinder 16 and is provided with gas outlet apertures of which there may be a plurality, as shown at 20.1* It is not necessary herein to recite in detail how the brine is moved as this is amply covered by the above mentioned application; suiiice to say that the gas passing through tube 18,l tube 19 and discharging into the cylinder through apertures 20 rises through `conduit 17 thus 'causin a brine movement upthrough the pipe 1g which is discharged from the end of the pipe 17 into the container 12. This results in the movement of the brine through the path provided therefor by the several pipes and containers. The gases may escape through the top of the chamber 12'` as by means of one `or more .apertures 22. Y i

A suitable valve mechanism is provided in the housing 21 for controlling the brine movement, and the valve in turn is :advantageously governed by the temperature of the remote regions. Any valve anni. 10e

ment may be employed and one is shown in Fig. 2. As shown in this figure pipes 18 and 19 connect into the housing 21, and between the connections of pipes 18 and 19 there is a l valve arrangement comprising a port 23 and a valve member which may be a needle valve 24. The valve 124 may be backed up by a coil springlor the like 25 which normally tends to urge t e valve into the port to close the same. This valve, however, is designed to be opened and closed in accordance with temperature requirements in the remotely refrigerated zone.

For this purpose theie may be providedy a gas chamber in the form of a feeler or leg 30 which, as shown in Fig. 1, may be positioned in a refrigerated region. This feeler may be positioned wherever desired in such region in order that the temperature of that particular region may be controlled. A tube 31 may connect the feeler into a chamber formed by an expansible and contractable metallic bellows, as at 32, held fixed at one end by a yfixture or plate 33 and having a movable diaphragm 34 at the other. Contacting with the diaphragm 34, or secured thereto as may best seem tting, is a reciprocating element suchas rod 35 which acts upon a vbell crank 36. This rod 35 extends into the housing 21 and to seal the same a metallic bellows 37 may be provided one end of which may be clamped between the-housing and the housing head 38,

and the other end provided with a diaphragm '39 positioned between the rod 35 and bell crank 36.- A light spring 41 may be einployed for exerting an expanding tendency unit may be vincorporated into a unit strucupon the bellows 37. This valve and control ture, as by means of securing the housing 21 and bellows 32 and its associated' parts together by means of studs 40.

` When the gas confined in feeler 30 and bellows 32 becomes warmed the same expands thus moving the diaphragm 34 from right to left, as Fig. 2 is viewed, pushing the rod 35 in a similar direction, which in turn rocks bell crank 36 and withdraws the valve 24 out of port 23 againstthe action ofk spring 25. As shown in Fig. 2 the parts are in valveopened position with the diaphragm 34 moved to its limit of movement. When the gases in the feeler 30 and bellows 32 cool and contract, spring 25 pushes the valve 24 back into the port 23 to close the same; spring 25 is stronger than spring 41 and accordingly causes a slight collapse of bellows 37 and compression spring 41 and likewise moves the rod 35 from left to right.y The diaphragm 34 may take the position as illustrated by thedotted lines of Fig. 2.

Inthe o eration of-a refrigerating mechanism of this typefirst assume that the remote regions to be refrigerated are warmed and arecallingwfgrrefri erating action. The gases in the felan bellows 32 `expand lt0 'container for solid open the valve 24 whereupon gases enter the cylinder 16 and effect movement of the brine. With this action brine flows from chamber 12 through conduit 13, coil 14 and into pipe 15 thus transferring cold brine in the coils around the regions to be refrigerated exemplified .by'compartments 10. Itwill be understood that the brine in chamber 12 and coil 14 are cooled by reason of their close proximity to. the solid refrigerating substance 7. When the refrigerated regions are suiiiciently cool the gases in the feeler 30 and bellows 32 contract and the valve closes, as above described, thus cutting off the circulation ofa the brine. Accordingly, it will be noted that the temperature of the remotely positioned refrigerated re ions are controlled through the medium o the thermostatic valve which overns the movement of the cold brine. he thermostat and valve may be adjusted as desired to open and close at tively small part of the gases are necessary for brine circulation. In some of the claims appended hereto the term solid CO2 is used; this is used in a descriptive sense to make the claims definite without being alternative, and it is to beyunderstood that the term CO2 is not used in the limiting sense. In other words, where this term is used in the claims it is clearly the'.l intention that such claims cover equivalents of solid CO2.

I claim: v 1. A refrigerating system. comprising, a container for'solid CO2, means providing a cyclic path for refrigerant, means utilizing gas power derived from the evaporating CO2 for circulating the refrigerant in its path, and thermostatically controlled means for governing the flow of refrigerant in path., 2. A refrigerating system comprising, .a container for a block of substance in soli form which changes directly into gaseous form upon evaporation, means providing a cyclic path for refrigerant, means utilizing gas power derived from the evaporating substance for circulating the refrigerant in its fipath, and thermostaticallyr controlled means gas power derived from evaporating CO2 for circulating the refrigerant in its path,`

and thermostatically controlled means for governin the amount of gas effective upon the circu ating means. Y

y4. A refrigeratin O2, means providing a cyclic path for refrigerant, meansfor inJectsystem comprising, a

ing some. of the derived from the evaporation of the solid CO2 into the refrigerant for circulating the refrigerant` in its path, and thermostatically controlled means `for,

5 governing the injection of gas into the rerigerant. y 5. A rerigerating system comprising, a container for solid CO2, means providing a cyclic path for a refrigerant which has parts in close proximity to said container and parts extending to remote regions, means for. injecting gas derived from the evaporation of the CO2 into the refrigerant for circulating therefrigerant in its path, 'and means thermostatically controlled by the temperature in said remote region for governing the injection of the gas into the refrigerant.

6. A refrigerating system comprising, a container for solid CO2, means providing a cyclic path for a refrigerant having parts in close proximity to said container and parts -extending to a remote region to be refrigerated, means utilizing gas power derived from `lthe evaporation of the CO2 for circulating the refrigerant in its path, and means thermostatically controlled by the temperature of said remote region for governing the gas eiiective upon said circulating means.

l7. A method of rerigerating which consists in chilling a refrigerantby bringing .it into heat exchange relation with a body of solid CO2, circulating the brine thus chilled in heat exchange relation to a region to be refrigerated, effecting circulation of 4the brine by the gas power produced in the evaporation if the solid CO2 and thermostatically controlling .the ilow of the circulating' brine by the temperature in said region.

8. The method of refrigerating with solid 1Q-CO2 comprising, providing a. cyclic path for a refrigerant with parts of the pathin close l proximity to the solid CO2- and parts extending to regions-to be refrigerated, circulating the brine in its path by gas power derived from the evaporation of the solid CO2, and thermostatically controlling the gas eflectivefor circulating the brine from the temperature of the refrigerated region for-` governing the flow lof refrigerant in its path.

La 9. The method of refrigerat-ing with solid CO2 which comprises chilling brine by bringing it into heat exchange relation with the. solid CO2, providing a cyclic path for the brine leading to reg-ions to be refrigerated,

0 injecting gas derived by evaporation of the solid CO2 or the like into the brine for circulating the brine in its path, and thermostatically controllingthe gas injected into the brine by the temperature in the regions @9 to be refrigerated for governing .the ow of the refrigerant in its path.

In testunony whereofwI aix my signature.

A G. COPEMAN. 

